51: Chapter 51 I'll expose your rules, you're worse than an ancestor!

The dead silence at the bottom of the well was completely shattered by that pulsating core.

It was neither jade nor stone, but a real, living 'heart'!

It hovered above the wreckage of the stone pupil. Every contraction and expansion seemed like breathing, releasing an ancient, desolate aura.

This aura was far purer and far more terrifying than any power before it.

Just as Chen Fan's mind was violently shaken, a cold mechanical voice exploded directly in his mind with unprecedented speed and clarity!

[Warning! Life fluctuations detected for 'Creation-Grade Relic · Qingqiu Heart Core'!

[Authority protocol update... Starlight Tower's highest directive issued...]

[Target: Chen Fan. Threat level evaluation in progress... Evaluation complete.]

[Threat Level: World-Ending. Disposal plan: Upgraded to 'Priority Clearance'!]

Clearance!

These two words, carrying unquestionable, icy killing intent, stabbed into Chen Fan's nerves like two steel needles!

He looked up abruptly, his gaze passing over the heart core to meet Su Shuang's swaying figure.

Her face was as pale as paper, her lips stained with her own blood, but her eyes shone with astonishing brilliance.

She understood the horror in Chen Fan's eyes and guessed what he had heard.

"The last map fragment is at the deepest part of the Buried Moon Well," she said softly, but with a sense of finality. "But that place is the starting point for 'Them,' the very place where the Starlight Tower first descended."

Starting point?

The hideous wound Chen Fan had torn open on his chest was still bleeding, echoing the nine-tailed totem slowly fading on his left arm, forming a bizarre balance.

He grinned, his smile carrying three parts madness and seven parts dominance. His blood-stained teeth looked exceptionally stark white under the faint glow.

"Starting point?" he repeated. The phantom of the nine-tailed totem completely dissipated behind him, transforming into pure power and returning to his body. "That's perfect—I'll go right to their starting point and punch their so-called destiny to pieces!"

The moment his voice fell, a thousand miles away, atop a pure white giant tower that soared into the clouds, seemingly piercing heaven and earth.

A blurry figure slowly raised a hand amidst a shower of brilliant starlight and placed a crown, seemingly forged from star fragments, upon his own head.

"Finally... I've waited for you."

The whisper vanished in the wind, like a destined prophecy spanning millennia.

At the bottom of the well, dead silence descended once more.

Chen Fan's bold words still echoed off the stone walls, but the bloody mess of reality lay before his eyes.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging tidal wave of power within him.

The recent state of [Human-Diagram Unity · Critical Limit] had nearly drained all his life force, the price being that deep, bone-visible gash on his chest.

Every breath felt like being cut by a knife.

He didn't check on Su Shuang first. Instead, he turned and carefully walked to the blood-splattered stone tablet, bent down, and gently picked up the already cold Xiao Jin.

The youth's frail body was as light as a feather. The hole pierced through his chest by the puppet's sharp claws was shocking; it was no longer bleeding, but the weight of his life pressed down on Chen Fan until he could barely breathe.

He hadn't known Xiao Jin long, but he recognized the light in the child's eyes—that timid yet resolute light.

"Rest well, brother," Chen Fan murmured, his voice hoarse.

He had no time for grief.

He carefully placed Xiao Jin's body on his back, securing it with strips of torn cloth.

He needed to take him out, to find a place with beautiful sunshine, not leave him in this cold, damp hellhole.

After finishing this, he walked toward Su Shuang.

Su Shuang leaned against the stone wall, forcing herself not to collapse.

Her fox blood had been severely depleted, leaving her almost unable to move, but her eyes remained clear.

She watched Chen Fan carrying Xiao Jin on his back, silent.

"Can you still walk?" Chen Fan asked.

Su Shuang managed a wry smile: "My legs are soft as noodles."

Chen Fan said no more. He walked in front of her, and to Su Shuang's stunned gaze, he executed a perfect bridal carry, lifting her horizontally.

Where he touched her, she felt astonishingly hot—a sign of her life force rapidly draining away.

"You..." Su Shuang subconsciously struggled for a moment, only to realize she didn't even have the strength to lift a finger.

"Shut up, save your strength," Chen Fan's tone was absolute.

He was now holding one heavily injured person, carrying a corpse on his back, yet his expression was as stern as a walking statue.

His gaze swept over the area.

The puppets annihilated by the single tail attack were reduced to ashes, and the fragments of the Heart-Burning Bell were scattered everywhere, having lost all spiritual essence.

Finally, his gaze landed on the unconscious Wuxiang.

This last priest of Qingqiu lay there like a pile of mud, his severed finger a bloody mess, yet a look of ecstatic relief still lingered on his face.

Su Shuang whispered in his embrace: "Kill him. He is a running dog for 'Them'; keeping him alive is a disaster."

Chen Fan, however, shook his head.

Holding Su Shuang, he walked over to Wuxiang and merely glanced at him coldly.

"Killing him means accepting his 'rules,'" Chen Fan's voice was low but carried an unprecedented calm. "He said if I kill him, I become the next priest. By what right? Is what he says the truth?"

He lifted his foot, not aiming for Wuxiang's head, but precisely kicking several acupoints on his body.

With several dull thuds, Wuxiang's already severely injured body went completely limp, his cultivation temporarily sealed, making it impossible for him to cause trouble again anytime soon.

"He wants to use his death to complete his 'sacrifice' and prove his Way is correct. I absolutely will not grant his wish," Chen Fan snorted coldly. "A pathetic worm who would even use the bones of his own clansmen is not qualified to decide my path. He is a key, not the destination. I want to pry open his mouth and see exactly what 'They' are."

Su Shuang stared at him blankly. This man's speed of growth had surpassed her comprehension.

Not long ago, he was just a Teahouse owner who relied on opportunism and petty cleverness. Now, the imposing aura he possessed, one that scorned everything, made it seem as if he was born to stand above the clouds.

Was this the person chosen by the Totem?

No, the Totem was merely a catalyst.

What truly transformed him was the heart that dared to tear itself apart and strike out against fate in the face of absolute despair.

"How do we get out?" Su Shuang asked the most crucial question.

This well was bottomless; they had been in near freefall when they descended.

Chen Fan looked up toward the distant, tiny opening of the well.

The wound on his chest suddenly ached, and a violent surge of power churned again.

His eyes sharpened, and with a low cry, a faint crimson stream of light reappeared on his left arm, where the nine-tailed totem had already faded!

"Didn't it disappear just now?" Su Shuang exclaimed in shock.

"It didn't dissipate; it entered my flesh and blood," Chen Fan felt the power merging with his life force and said gravely. "It is now... a part of me."

Before the words faded, a condensed, substantial phantom of a crimson fox tail shot out from behind him, like a living crimson giant python. The tip of the tail precisely coiled around a protruding rock, exerting sudden force!

Chen Fan, holding Su Shuang and carrying Xiao Jin, shot upward like a cannonball!

The wind whistled past their ears. Su Shuang instinctively gripped his lapels, her eyes filled with shock.

This was no longer the strength of a mortal; this was mythology!

The crimson fox tail continually used the stone walls for leverage. Each rebound propelled them dozens of meters upward.

The residual resentment and yin energy clinging to the well walls dissolved like ice meeting the sun the moment they touched the fox tail.

In just a few breaths, they rushed out of the deep well opening and returned to the backyard of the Frost Moon Teahouse.

The moonlight was like water, yet carried a bone-chilling coldness.

The backyard was a complete wreck. A huge black hole had been dug into the ground, and the surrounding dirt and flagstones were smeared with congealed dark purple bloodstains and scattered white bones—traces left by the puppets climbing out.

The air was a nauseating mix of blood stench, corpse odor, and the burnt smell of consumed power.

Chen Fan landed steadily. The crimson fox tail phantom flashed and completely retracted into his body.

His face paled, and he staggered slightly. The intense pain in his chest made him grunt.

Continuously using this power that exceeded his limits placed a massive burden on his body.

He gently set Su Shuang down, letting her lean against a relatively intact old locust tree, then carefully laid Xiao Jin's body beside her.

He looked around, his gaze icy.

This place where he had lived for three years was unrecognizable overnight.

"Where to next?" Su Shuang gasped, trying to mobilize the demonic power in her body, only to find her meridians empty. The depletion of her fox blood left her weaker than an ordinary person.

Chen Fan did not answer immediately.

He walked over to Wuxiang, whom he had knocked unconscious with one kick, and dragged him over like a dead dog, throwing him at his feet.

Then, he bent down and picked up the ancient bronze coin from the ground, which had been stained by Su Shuang's fox blood.

The second groove on the coin now held the map fragment found on Xiao Jin.

At this moment, the two fragments and the coin itself were perfectly integrated, and the patterns on it seemed slightly clearer, emitting a faint glow.

He rubbed the cold bronze coin, feeling the last trace of Xiao Jin's aura lingering on it, his killing intent almost taking physical form.

Starlight Tower, 'Them,' the grudges of Qingqiu, the Creation-Grade Relic...

An invisible net had completely enveloped him. There was no retreat.

"Didn't you ask what the rules were?" Chen Fan suddenly spoke, as if talking to himself, or perhaps proclaiming to this cold world.

"I am the rule now."

He looked up at the gloomy sky.

At some unknown point, fine ice crystals began to drift down from the sky.

The wind was rising.

Mixed in the wind was the first snowflake, drifting down slowly, landing on his shoulder, on Su Shuang's pale face, and on Xiao Jin's peaceful brow.

The snowflakes melted upon contact, but the chill that penetrated the bone heralded an impending blizzard that would sweep across heaven and earth.

Chen Fan remained silent. He bent over, picked up Su Shuang again, and then gathered Xiao Jin's body into his other arm.

He no longer chose to carry the body on his back, but instead shielded the two people he wanted to protect close to his chest.

He stepped forward, walking out of the ruined backyard and toward the deserted front hall of the Teahouse.

Every step crushed the moonlight and the thin layer of fresh snow on the ground.

The wind and snow grew stronger, slowly covering the bottomless ancient well behind him, and the priest abandoned like trash beside the well.

The road ahead was long, and danger lurked everywhere.

In the vast darkness and snow, a man carrying a corpse and a heavily injured woman embarked alone on the journey back.